The crank pulley on my roadster is pretty bad, so I was going through my stash of 1909-1920 pulleys looking for a better one when I came across this.

I don't recall ever seeing one liked this. The leather is attached with four brass rivets. The only ID is the numeral 8 stamped in the leather. I'm wondering whether to use it or a regular pulley. Anybody have some information about this thing?

The surface of the pulley should be crowned to keep the belt centered w/o flanges on the sides. I suspect less crown and/or easier worn off crown with this soft surface on the pulley, so I think you'd likely get better service without the leather there.